Will Miss Maryland be judged the fairest in the land? Watch NBC tonight and find out unless you've got something better to do, like the dishes."Nova" (6 p.m.-8 p.m., MPT, Channels 22 and 67) -- The acclaimed science series continues its 10-year look at a group of seven students who entered medical school in 1987."Second Noah" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- TV's favorite extended family, animals and all, is back for a second season, with Danny (Jon Torgerson) falling in love with the school goddess and Ricky (James Marsden)

Miss Maryland didn't take home the top prize at last night's Miss America competition, but she did win an award for having a fit body. Sporting a pink bikini, Jade Kenny was named Thursday night's preliminary Lifestyle and Fitness winner in the 2015 Miss America Competition. Originally from the Eastern Shore, Kenny, 23, represented Allegany County in the Miss Maryland pageant before moving on to compete in the 88th Miss America pageant in Atlantic City this month. Kenny began competing in pageants at the age of 13 in hopes of earning scholarship money for college.

Let's say you're in charge of the Miss America pageant and you have a little problem:The TV audience has been shrinking, and you have to get it back.You can't revamp the whole show -- throwing out the 50 contestants, for instance -- but you can make some changes in a telecast that each year is slow-moving, bumbling and dull.So what do you do?Well, this year you go out and hire a new producer. And not just any producer. No, you get the producer of the Academy Awards telecast!That other slow-moving, bumbling and dull TV show.

By Dan Singer, The Baltimore Sun and By Dan Singer, The Baltimore Sun | July 3, 2014

Jade Kenny is still in shock over winning Miss Maryland 2014. “I honestly never really thought it would happen,” said Kenny, 23, who represented Allegany County in the pageant and will go on to compete in the 88th Miss America pageant in Atlantic City in September. Competing in Miss Maryland for the fourth time, Kenny won the evening gown and interview portions of the pageant and tied for first place in the talent portion, during which she did a ballet routine set to C+C Music Factory's “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)

By David Zurawik and David Zurawik,Television Critic | February 4, 1992

WHY WAS THE Miss America Pageant not the Miss America Pageant without Bert Parks? That is the question.Well, it's one of a couple of questions that seem worth asking in the wake of Parks' death of inoperable lung cancer Sunday night at age 77 in La Jolla, Calif.Another question is the kind we're a bit gun-shy about asking in appreciations like this. But it's one we need to ask: How could a man of such limited talents come to be so widely known and seemingly so important to so many people?

By David Zurawik and David Zurawik,Television Critic | February 4, 1992

Why was the Miss America Pageant not the Miss America Pageant without Bert Parks? That is the question.Well, it's one of a couple of questions that seem worth asking in the wake of Parks' death of inoperable lung cancer Sunday night at age 77 in La Jolla, Calif.Another question is the kind we're a bit gun-shy about asking in appreciations like this. But it's one we need to ask: How could a man of such limited talents come to be so widely known and seemingly so important to so many people?

Pack the evening gowns and check the plane reservations. Renee Shanahan is going to Las Vegas to represent Maryland in the Mrs. America pageant after all.Last week, the 26-year-old Pasadena woman thought she was grounded because Sid Sussman, the director of the state pageant and the only one who could issue checks, died six weeks ago without giving her the prize money that would have helped cover her expenses.But thanks to a spirited display of support, Shanahan raised about $2,500 to cover airline tickets, clothing, gifts for fellow contestants and other expenses.

By DAVID KRONKE and DAVID KRONKE,LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS | January 18, 2006

Last week, had you been sitting on one of the plush sofas dotting the corridors in the Pasadena, Calif., Ritz-Carlton, you might have beheld a line of beautiful women striding through, their professionally beaming smiles tightly in place. Sashes diagonally across their carefully chosen outfits identified them as contestants in this Saturday's Miss America pageant in Las Vegas. They strode through the area - back and, then, after the day's second or third photo shoot, forth - in crisp alphabetical order, by their home state.

PASADENA, Calif. -- Miss America's going two-piece this year.That's the news on the 77th annual Miss America Pageant, scheduled to air Sept. 13 on ABC, according to Leonard Horn, executive producer of the show.Horn told television critics in California for the Summer Press Tour that contestants will be given the choice for the first time of wearing one- or two-piece bathing suits in the swimsuit competition.He said the decision was part of an attempt to give the telecast a "fleshly look." After hearing the laughter, he realized his slip and amended it to say "a fresh look."

Miss Maryland Christina Denny is proud of her Top 10 finish at last night's Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City, where she was among the finalists who participated in talent, evening gown and swimsuit categories. "I was just so excited," Denny recalled this afternoon from her home in Owings Mills. "That meant that I got to compete on national television. To keep hearing my name called out was so surreal. " Denny, 22, a special needs teacher and tutor for children with autism, felt confident going into the final night of the competition.

Many public events leading up to the pageant are free. Tickets are required to attend the pageant and are sold in a package, which also includes the three-night preliminaries, ranging from $110 to $220. Here are some highlights: The "Show Us Your Shoes" parade, Sept. 14 on the boardwalk, is free to bystanders, but reserved-seat tickets are $20. The event showcases floats, marching bands, musical performances and, of course, the Miss America contestants parading in an extraordinary collection of chic and silly shoes: haute-couture high-heels, flip-flops, glitzy sneakers, even bedroom slippers.

The Miss Black America pageant announced Tuesday morning that it would revive the national beauty competition that featured past contestants such as Oprah Winfrey and Toni Braxton. In addition to bringing back the pageant after a 15-year absence, organizers will now offer a Little Miss Black America pageant for ages 9-12 and Miss Black America Teen pageant for ages 13-17. The Miss Black America pageant is open to women ages 18-29. The announcement was made at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore.

An adverse reaction to a vaccine sent Erin MacPherson crashing face-first onto the floor, cutting her neck, fracturing her jaw and cracking six teeth - two months before her Miss Teen America competition. For two weeks in April, MacPherson, the current Miss Teen Maryland, couldn't talk because a compression bandage wound tightly around her chin clamped her jaws shut. The Bel Air teen swallowed pureed bananas and chicken-vegetable mush, and drank lots of milkshakes. She scribbled on a whiteboard to communicate with her friends.

To Brittany Lietz, the new Miss Maryland, there's nothing true about the phrase "beauty is only skin deep." The Edgewood nursing student's desperate quest for beauty, in the form of self-tanning sessions three times a week, eventually ended up lingering deep beneath her milk-pale skin. While the teenager tanned, malignant tumors reached sneakily into layers that had never seen the sun or man-made ultraviolet rays. By the time she was 20, Lietz had been diagnosed with Stage II melanoma - an elevated level of the most dangerous form of skin cancer.

By DAVID KRONKE and DAVID KRONKE,LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS | January 18, 2006

Last week, had you been sitting on one of the plush sofas dotting the corridors in the Pasadena, Calif., Ritz-Carlton, you might have beheld a line of beautiful women striding through, their professionally beaming smiles tightly in place. Sashes diagonally across their carefully chosen outfits identified them as contestants in this Saturday's Miss America pageant in Las Vegas. They strode through the area - back and, then, after the day's second or third photo shoot, forth - in crisp alphabetical order, by their home state.

On the Weekend Watch:CONVENTION CLOSEOUT -- The Democrats gavel down their convention at Madison Square Garden tonight, with acceptance speeches by both nominee Gov. Bill Clinton and vice president candidate Sen. Albert Gore Jr. Combined PBS/NBC coverage begins at 8 (Channel 2 and Maryland Public Television), CBS checks in at 9 p.m., NBC goes solo at 9:30 and ABC joins the action at 10.A NEW 'PARKER' SLOT -- The Fox series "Parker Lewis" takes up a new night tonight (at 8:30, Channel 45) in a second season premiere, also dropping the original "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" TC title and adding some characters.

In Baltimore City Streets to close for celebration of Artscape this week Several streets near the Maryland Institute College of Art will be closed for the city's Artscape 2003 celebration, the city Department of Transportation announced. Streets to be closed will include Park Avenue from Cathedral to Howard streets (closed now); Mount Royal Avenue from Maryland to North avenues and Preston Street from Cathedral to Howard streets (beginning 7:30 p.m. today); Mount Royal from Maryland Avenue to Charles Street (beginning 9:30 a.m. Thursday)

Over its 357-year history, Harvard University has had the distinction of producing seven U.S. presidents. But this year, America's oldest and most prestigious learning institution could see yet another title claimed by one of its distinguished alums: Miss America. When 51 beauties from across the nation take to the stage in Atlantic City on Sept. 20, not one, but two of them - Nancy Redd, Miss Virginia, and Laurie Gray, Miss Rhode Island - will carry with them Harvard diplomas, possibly making their Miss America interviews seem like a day at the beach.

In Baltimore City Streets to close for celebration of Artscape this week Several streets near the Maryland Institute College of Art will be closed for the city's Artscape 2003 celebration, the city Department of Transportation announced. Streets to be closed will include Park Avenue from Cathedral to Howard streets (closed now); Mount Royal Avenue from Maryland to North avenues and Preston Street from Cathedral to Howard streets (beginning 7:30 p.m. today); Mount Royal from Maryland Avenue to Charles Street (beginning 9:30 a.m. Thursday)